| Description |
The Gothic novel flourished during the time of European Romanticism, and may be seen as a reaction to the Enlightenment: the rule of reason is overthrown in a world of social instability, sublime emotions and supernatural forces. In this seminar, we will begin with a glance at early Gothic stories such as Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto as well as the philosophy that accompanied it (e.g. Burke's Inquiry) and the distinction between terror and horror (Radcliffe). The tradition of Gothic stories was well established by the time the Victorians added their own embellishments: Vampire myths and ghost legends, scientific innovations and psychological thrills...
Further reading will include Mary Shelley’s magnificent Frankenstein (1818) and Polidori’s short story ”The Vampyre” and Le Fanu's Carmilla before moving on to a Victorian novel of your choice, e.g. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray or Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (to be settled in class). |
